Giving The Gift of Mobility

Giving The Gift of Mobility

Last Dec of 2011, with a friend’s help, we provided ten wheelchairs as a Christmas gift to children with limited mobility in Nepal. Sadly, there are many more children with physical disabilities in Nepal that needs a wheelchair. One of my goals this year is continue the project which I like to call “The Gift of Mobility” to raise enough funds to provide hundred more wheelchairs to the children that needs one.

The ten wheelchairs were provided to special needs children through a day care center known as Asha Bal Bikas Sewa (ABBS). The center provides daycare service for children with debilitating illness including Cerebral Palsy and Muscular Dystrophy that leaves the children without ability to walk or move around.

There’s nothing including the illness that can take away the wonderful attitude and determination the children have. They have overcome so many obstacles and their ability to never give up is shown on their great big smiles.

Purchasing a new wheelchair is unfeasible and beyond financial means of many families across Nepal. Getting a chair is going to make an amazing difference in the child’s everyday life and that of a care provider. The chair will enable the child to participate more fully in activities with friends, get to school, and the children will no longer be kept hidden away in darkness and from society crying out for help.

Below is the feedback we have received from the center in receiving the ten wheelchairs last year: “The wheelchairs have been a great help for our children as well as our teachers and helpers. Some of our children are very heavy and cannot be carried to and from the school bus. So, we use them for this purpose also. We also need to carry them to the playground during the day so that they can play along with other children; and it is a lot easier with the wheelchairs available. The few wheelchairs we have would not be enough for all of them.

After long time, these children are smiling again and have new hope because of the wheelchair they received. When children received the chairs, they were overwhelmed with happiness that they began to cry. There are no words to express the joy the children felt when they received the chair. Anju Thapa, a 13 years old girl, living in Mangalbazar, Patan, comes to ABBS and has cerebral palsy. We had donated a wheelchair to her before 6 years and she has been using it very carefully until now. But her wheelchair has become very old now and her parents have been requesting us for a new one. We were not being able to provide them until we received them from Furtemba Sherpa Foundation.

Similarly, we’ve provided a wheelchair to Krisha Khadgi, another student with cerebral palsy, for her household use. We are glad to share our blessing with them and be a blessing to them through Furtemba Sherpa Foundation.”

Take a moment to watch this moving video of children receiving the ten chairs.

Please donate what you can. Your gift will help more children realize their dream of independence and be a shining light for them in their time of need!”

Who I am

I am Furtemba Sherpa from Nepal, and have been cycling around the world since 2003 promoting world peace, environmental protection and social harmony. I chose to use my passion for cycling and spread the message of peace and awareness of environmental issues so that all of us can grow and prosper together.